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Lucky Boy: A Novel

January 11, 2017

lucky boy

  Despite its upbeat sounding title Lucky Boy is a novel saturated in desperation. Desperation for a better life, desperation for a child, for success…for happiness. Solimar is eighteen, lives in a dying town in Mexico and with money her parents procure she leaves with a man who is supposed to get her to California where she will meet up with a cousin who has already ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary fiction, literary, marriage, Putnam, San Francisco, social issues

Small Admissions: A Novel

January 3, 2017

small admissions

  Small Admissions is an example of a book whose writing goes the same way as its plot. Confused? I know, it’s weird, but what I mean is that it’s the story of a young woman named Kate whose life goes off the rails when she is unceremoniously dumped by a boyfriend. She basically checks out of life in the most stereotypical ways possible, lingering in an almost catatonic ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Atria Books, coming-of-age, family, humor, Manhattan

Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist

November 28, 2016

your heart is a muscle

  Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist is one of those novels that runs on pure adrenaline. Author Sunil Yapa drops the reader into the chaos of the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle with such force that the fight or flight mechanism kicks in and there is no choice but to keep reading. The stream of consciousness style he employs means full immersion in each of the ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 20th century, contemporary fiction, Lee Boudreaux Books, literary, Pacific Northwest

Delicious Foods: A Novel

November 14, 2016

delicious foods

Everybody black knows how to react to a tragedy. Just bring out a wheelbarrow full of the Same Old Anger, dump it all over the Usual Frustration, and water it with Somebody Oughtas…Then quietly set some globs of Genuine Awe in a circle around the mixture, but don’t call too much attention to that. Mention the Holy Spirit whenever possible. If I were handing out book awards, ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, literary, racism, social issues

Small Great Things

October 17, 2016

small great

Jodi Picoult is one of those authors I love for being entertaining yet educational. In each of her novels she takes on a subject and not only turns it into gripping fiction, but informs the reader. In her latest, Small Great Things, the subject is racism and as always she approaches it with a unique moral dilemma. Ruth is a labor and delivery nurse with twenty years of ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Ballantine, contemporary life, racism

It’s Not You, It’s Me: Today Will Be Different

October 12, 2016

it's not you

  If Herman Koch is the master at writing all the unpleasant things we might think about our fellow man, then Maria Semple is the heart behind the tough things we think about ourselves. In her newest novel, Today Will Be Different, that angst is directed at not being nice enough and not being present in life. Every day. All day. It’s a tall order, but one Eleanor Flood is ... Read More...

18 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, humor, Little Brown and Company, Pacific Northwest, Seattle

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